Standing in the crowd of people gathered at Stitches for Britches Saturday afternoon, Clare Mayor Pat Humphrey listened to the rules of the frozen T-shirt contest.

Humphrey and his teammate, Haley Smith, weren’t sure what to expect, other than to get cold.

Representing Maxwell’s Flowers and Gifts, Humphrey and Smith joined several other teams competing for cash prizes in the contest, part of the city’s annual Christmas festival.

Clare Area Chamber of Commerce Manager Pam O’Laughlin came up with the idea for the frozen T-shirt contest, and her sister, Stephanie Badour, owner of Stitches for Britches, hosted the challenge and provided T-shirts that were screen printed and given to participants.

Advertisement

Printing on the front of the shirts read “I froze my freaking fingers off for this T Shirt” on the front, and the Stitches for Britches logo on the back.

Rules were to the point: the first, second and third teams of two people to thaw their frozen shirts out and have one member of the team dress in the garment would win the event.

However, there were caveats, including disqualification for anyone who used the portable outdoor heater that was operating outside Stitches for Britches on West Fourth Street.

Simply stated by the announcer, teams had to use body heat to get the shirts thawed, and hitting the shirtcicles on the concrete sidewalks was permitted.

Although it more than likely wasn’t necessary to announce, another taboo was using and warm fluids, including bodily, to thaw the shirts, which had been wet, folded into tiny forms and frozen for 24 hours.

Once the contest started, teams began their work, finding creative ways to unroll the garments.

Some slammed them into the sidewalk, while others moved the shirts in their hands to melt the ice.

Humphrey and Smith worked on their shirt until it unrolled into a club-like form.

From there, Humphrey stuffed the T-shirt down his button down and quickly decided that wasn’t going to be bearable.

As Humphrey and Smith continued, the team representing the Ideal Theater, Anna Kinberg and her mother, April Aldrich, managed to get their shirt unrolled and Anna put it on, winning the $50 first place prize.

Kinberg said their technique was to smash the shirt on the sidewalk, and unfold as much of it as they could before repeating the process.

Kinberg, 13, of Clare said the money will go toward Christmas presents.

As other teams began getting the shirts thawed enough to start pulling them on, Humphrey and Smith weren’t in contention.

Still trying to unroll the shirt, Humphrey declared his hands to be frozen, more red than Rudolph’s nose, while Smith joked that their shirt seemed to be glued together.

Even though they didn’t place in the contest, Humphrey and Smith had fun getting into the swing of the festival.